Hi everyone,

I hope all is well over wherever you are. These past few weeks have been fun busy times (as usual), and finally I have some time to relax and write here. There has been some good news at work, where one of my clients has thanked us for our hard work and being proactive in their program. Woo hoo! If only they knew the insanity that happens behind the scenes to get the program up and running! (knock on wood that nothing goes wrong now...!)

Anyway, where to start? How about my bday..

Bday
I had a great Bday week. I got to see/speak with many of my friends, as well as got to see DAMIEN RICE! He's an acoustic singer songwriter based out of Ireland. He's totally up my alley, with intimate acoustic songs and use of "howie day"-esque pedals. Rice occasionally switched to a distorted microphone and manipulated an array of effects pedals, demonstrating that he can do more than emotional ballads too! The show was at Convocation Hall at UofT, surrounded by college kids about my age. It felt good, since I haven't been in an environment with all the same demographic in awhile.

I also went to the next installment of the Pontiac Quarterly during my bday week. It wasn't as good as the first one, however I did miss the first part because i was STARVING and they didn't offer any food there. I felt that this round seemed like they were a bit scarce on the submissions, and many of the readers seemed a little less enthusiastic about their pieces. To be honest, my favourite submission was an audience reading about the "Transition of the hooker played by Julia Roberts after Pretty Women" :) Chris Murphy from Sloan was there, reading a 15 minute essay on Kiss... So good times had by all!

Also during the weekend of my bday I went out with some friends to have sushi on Yorkville. OK, it's not the expensive primo restaurants you usually find in this area, but one that is quite well priced-- they totally make their money on volume! I do have some pictures but I shouldn't post them w/o permission from everyone (I've gotta post a password protected site sometime soon...). It was a good time though! I also got some great gifts, such as a tripod for my digital camera (some great panoramic pics will be coming shortly!), tea/jasmine rice as well as a framed picture. From the family i also got a copy of novel, "The Corporation", some CDs (indie arie, massive attack, best of pink floyd, zero 7), and a huge memory card for my digital camera.

Band Website
In other good news, my band website was launched in the beginning of May! I'm really happy with it so far, even though we are in desperate need of putting some newer music on there. Right now there's just a couple acoustic numbers, and nothing that includes the new members of the band. I have 2 live shows recorded and need to get those up and onto the website. We have a few gigs that are coming up soon, so i'm excited about that. What i'm MORE excited is that we've heard word of a new indie acoustic folk rock label that has started up and could be interested in us. How perfect does that sound for us? We need to get our act together and put together a demo CD for them. We'll see.. I'll keep y'all updated!

Dinner with the next John Tory
Last Friday I met one of my super boyfriend's high school friends. We went to the Living Well restaurant and basically discussed Canadian politics and the primary school education system all night. It's crazy because this guy was about 25 years old but had the mind and mannerisms of a 40 year old. It will be interesting to see what he will be like when he's 41! Anyway, he's doing his master's in political science and was just accepted as an intern in Parliament. He skews so far in conservative waters, and spoke like it was clearly the best party :) I commend his passion for one political party; I am not versed in politics myself, and could not articulate why I was disagreeing with what he was saying, but just that I disagreed. Here's a statement I remember him making (loosely quoting):

"The only reason why Ernie Eves lost in the election was because he did not present himself as an agent of change. Mcguinty did, and for this only reason he won."

He later said that it had nothing to do with the conservatives or what Harris did. He thought that the Conservatives would have won if Eves acted on this positioning to the public right when Harris stepped down. He also made many other statements which some I did agree with, and some I couldn't comment on because I didn't know 80% of the 1970s/80s references to Provincial and Federal political events he was using to argue his point. Anyway, it was great talking to him and it was too bad that there wasn't a stubborn NDP or green party advocate there to duel it out with him :). I'm sure he'll do a spectacular job when he's in Parliament this year, making his way up the political ladder!

Back in the village
Ok, time for a bit of gay gossip. Those two words seem to go hand in hand eh? Last weekend I went with my super boyfriend to meet some of his queer swing friends. They were all older than myself, some older than 40, and some around my sbf's age. We went to Zelda's on Church street, going for the Sunday brunch. I haven't been to the village lately, but in 2 hours I was there, 2 of my sbf's ex-boyfriend's were there, I ran into some friends who I haven't seen since last summer, and I saw one of my best friends' exes! Not to mention an open offer to stay at this guy's place when i'm in the US for DMB shows this summer... Definitely worth the $15 lunch indeed! I don't konw what it is with the Village, but it just seems to ooze for gossip. They're right about 2 degrees of pink separation! I bet i'm connected to 50% of the community by 2 or 3 steps -- It's the Queer Cheers - Everybody know's your name!

I have to say though, to my suprise, I did enjoy my experience Sunday. May be because I haven't been in the area in awhile, or may be because I've been so busy with work/band that I forgotten about the gay community. I have realized that I need to get back in there a let loose for a bit -- i think it's time to go clubbing again! I'm itching to go hardcore for a night, just like old times. Of course, this time I dohave a superbf, so things will be a little different this time around - Well, the only change I see is rather than perhaps finding a date there, i get to bring one with me!

Take care,

RE

"Stones taught me to fly
Love taught me to cry
So come on courage!
Teach me to be shy
'Cause it's not hard to fall" -Damien Rice